BuzzMachine

im upset.. i wanted something else.. but kinda good.. i like the way they left it open for you pick what u think is going to be next…

I sense a movie!

Yeah they could definitely do a movie. We thought of that too over here.

Mt wife’s comment, “The worst ending ever!” For me, blah . . . it was easy to do it that way. I expected better.

Not sure how that was appropriate, several people saying it was the ultimate mind f*ck. I just think it was pretty damn stupid. It was a cop-out

I’m kind of going both ways on the ending. at first i was pretty pissed off and I definitly thought that time warner cable was messing with me when the screen went black.

However, then I thought about it and in the past couple weeks they’ve been talking about death and that when it comes you don’t feel it; everything just goes black..i think Tony died and the last thing he saw was meadows face and then everything went black. But they’ll probably make a movie, but if they don’t, then I’m going with – Tony’s dead.

Ok, well the show succeeds as it always does…it makes people have these discussions. We thought the TV died too. What about those 2 guys in the diner? Were they gonna whack Tony? Were they Feds? What’s the significance of Meadow not being able to fit into the parking space. “Don’t Stop Believing” was a very appropriate song for the scene. We are left to come to our own conclusions but as I sit with the ending in my head, I think it was the signature of Chase for sure…leave them thinkin’.

It’s ridiculous to say good idea to leave it up to our imagination ! What the hell is there a show for ….. we watch tv to WATCH TV…… a blank screen gives us nothing. Why didn’t David chase save the last 10 years of writing– we could of closed our eyes and imagined a show in a fraction of that time…… I don’t get it . Maybe David Chase wrote 5 endings and used none of them ??!! Who the hell knows………..

All I will say is, I’ve never before had a tv show give me that kind of rush of emotions. From complete anxiety, raw nervous energy, on the edge of my seat, to stunned, to confused. Brilliant.

Tony’s dead, fade to black, you never hear it coming.

I hope everyone emails HBO and complains.

Put it this way… has anyone ever seen any WORSE ending? If it was an ending…

Any high school kid could do a better job than THAT! And these are supposed to be PROFESSIONAL writers? Give me a break!

THIS was the best of the 5 endings they shot? The others must have been pretty bad as well.

I know one thing… you never, EVER want to disappoint an audience… and this… well, it was beyond disappointing. I had friends over, and frankly I was embarrassed that they came and saws this. They thought this was pure junk… and I agree. It embarrassed me.

Maybe they intended this to be put IN the “john” in Cincinnati… sure smells like it!

Tony did not get whacked, at least not until after the VIEWER did and the viewer never heard it coming.

it was a cop-out. there’re nicer ways to spin it, but that’s what it was. the End isn’t supposed to be Business as Usual, and Chase gave us Bnes as Usual. phooey.

6 ft under set a high bar, and unf, the Sopranos didn’t live up to it.

This was a surprising, suspenseful ending that leaves us hanging or to decide their fate, but this fits in with David Chase’s unique, original style as he makes you read between the lines. Often hints of things in some episodes are more or less figured out in later episodes, if you analyze & study them. There are scenes where no one is speaking and characters do not explain their thoughts to the audience – how often does that happen on other tv shows? It’s more realistic, which makes an audience relate more to the characters and the story. Funny scenes were when returning home Carmella notes how much mail they had received (as if her job of sorting through the mail was part of her “normal” life here) and after Paulie reluctanly accepts the ATM job despite his obsessive compulsive fears….then the orange cat approaches him. That was funny too.
Tying up loose ends & getting closure was when Tony visited Sil and when he saw his Uncle in this last episode. So many things unsaid that we can understand just by watching. This is the best tv series I’ve ever seen and I will miss Tony & his 2 families!
I think the majority of us wish the series would continue, but like Seinfeld, they are quitting when they are on top. It’s been a good ride!

Great ending. Bought out the absurdity and bipolar nature of their lives. In the last few minutes of the show, the families starts were aligned and in a typical diner… everything winding down perfect. But with just the little tension of Meadow’s parking problems and the unknown guy going off to the bathroom. So what actually happened? Tony got hit from behind right as Meadow walked in the room? Probably. This just reminds us that such events and their proximity to the mob life are ever present and eventually. it finds you. It’s a very sad ending, especially as their lives seems to be heading down a good road (not that it would have lasted…)

Tony’s death is the only “fair” ending… and adding that it was done in front of all of his family, on a good family night, makes it heart breaking.

My instinct is to leave the series done as is, but if a movie were to come out, a great plot line would be to see Meadow takeover the family.

*Sigh* – and apparently I’m meant to join them, since I left “about this” out of my previous comment.

Oh well, apropos I guess.

Total cop-out, leaving all the options open for another season or a movie and afraid to tie up any loose ends. But that lack of courage is why the show has sucked for the past three years. Good riddance, I’ll take The Wire any day.

Terrific ending. Life goes on. But for Tony, that means everyone is a potential assassin. Chase just turned off the camera, and the Soprano family went on with dinner, and spending money, and eating lasagna, and murdering people.

Brilliant.

I thought it was the best series finale i have ever seen. brilliant. If you don’t get it, i wouldn’t be able to explain it to you.

Tony didn’t die. None of them did. Look at the people who walked into the restaurant (all from his past, disguised – the guy who owned the athletic store, etc. – ALL of them were in previous episodes) and look at the people who were already seated there – Boy Scouts, etc.. Look at the house they left from; a small house. Look at the kind of restaurant they’re eating in; a diner. Look at the clothes they’re wearing; nothing fancy. All a complete 180 from their previous lifestyle. They made it out and are in witness protection. The threatening people in the restaurant are the, metaphorically, the people who haunt Tony from his past … while normal life goes on, Tony will always be looking over his shoulder.

You know what folks, I liked it. Any standard ending would have been disappointing in some way. I’m quite amused at the number of people I’ve heard rip on Chase for setting up the possibility of a movie finale as if they won’t be racing to the box office when time comes. Greatest series I’ve ever seen and I’m sad it’s over. Now there are zero hour-long dramas on t.v. worth watching. Few masterpieces come and go in a lifetime and I impatiently await the next one.

The least they could have done was kill AJ. WTF did we need to spend a single second of the last hour of the damn show on that turd?

I think Tony was killed, but I agree that Chase is punishing us for warming up to these monsters. And in a way he’s right, they’re less than worthless and we should be ashamed of liking and respecting them.

If Tony was whacked then who was behind it and why? I’m not buying this theory.
Did you see “The Blue Comet”? Bobby certainly saw it happening to him, way late.
It was always all about the family, they were all together and eating, like always.
Life is very repetitive, full of ritual. The final resolution for all of us is not predictable .Why should it be any different here? A reflection of our lives. Instead we were on the edge of our seats, waiting for something grand to happen, while what we were really expereiencing was the mundane. The story lives on in our subconscious. How much better can you get! There is plenty of great literature that leaves us with similar endings.
There will not be a movie.

Just realised, it’s brilliant.

watched the end again, when tony comes into the restaurant, he sees himself in the restaurant (with a different shirt).

just as in the coma/dream experience.

he’s already in the coma.

got shot when entering the place.

dreams of eating here with is family.

he passes when the bell rings.

misses his daughter (in dream or reality), maybe his only hope.

I noticed the same exact thing. When “T” enters the diner, he sees himself – sitting there in the booth already. He is dressed differently (Shirt) and even looks a bit different (less weight?)….

BUT* the dream sequence does not make sense with all of the reference to current events. How can someone in coma know & relate to actual current events?

why not referring to current events when in coma?

after all those were the facts he had in mind before he got shot.

to me he recreates a dream meeting, reunifying his family for the last time.
except meadow.

maybe it’s a mix of coma/dream life for the action inside the restaurant, and real life for the action outside the restaurant : meadow can’t park and is rushing in fact to see her father dead.

Am so dumb, watched the East Coast feed early in West and thought they clipped the end so I wouldn’t tell everyone.

They didn’t.

TONY is DEAD!!!!! In the previous epidsode he is telling BACALA, that when it comes you dont hear it. It’ just goes BLACK and silent. Also when Tony’s dad got whacked (SAME RESTAURANT) he to had a difficult time parking. The guy that went to the bathroom is the guy Christopher ripped off. The two black guys are the guys that missed Tony the first time that Tony was suppose to get whacked. Last but not least the trucker I think had a son or something that got whacked by Tony’s crew. THUS TONY IS DEAD.

What a joke! Is Tony dead? Sure, I can see and accept that. Foreshadowing from Bobby conversation? Certainly. Four guys with motive to kill him all at the same location? Not so much. Maybe as foreshadowing or to raise anxiety levels? Absolutely. In any case, the ending is a joke and obviously a sophomoric attempt for people wanting to work on new and different projects. To have this “high art” for an ending appears to be more of an homage to the writers themselves saying, “Hey! We’re artsy and creative and capable of formal literary techniques! Can I write for you now!?!” As they say, you’re only as good as your last project and by creating this buzz they can be assured of another writing credit. If they’re so into high-art, tell me which one of the episodes from just last year, season 6a, were high-art? Why this last ditch effort on our dime?

Ultimately, we got whacked – or more specifically, our time and loyalty. What a sham! What made this show great to watch was its tie to reality and the truth in the human condition. That’s why we loved Tony – even though he may be truly an evil or bad guy, he did all the things we think about in the back of our heads but don’t do because we know it’s wrong or not in our persona. Or might get caught! :) I never came across a blog or conversation where people were excited to see the next episode purely to catch all the literary nuances of an episode much less use the Sopranos as a textbook example for contemporary literature. While I did appreciate the ideas and platitudes that were contained in episodes, it was neither the mainstay nor driving force of the show. And this ending doesn’t further any literary accomplishment that may have been accomplished by this show. If anything, it belittles it by showing its incongruity and haphazard utilization of literary techniques.

Ultimately, I feel that David Chase decided this was his last chance for self-glorification and to really make more of a mark for himself versus giving his loyal audience what they wanted, as does any TELEVISION audience; resolution. Then again, considering the previous 2 seasons, you could tell he was sick and tired of his characters and the story – his writing/show became a job and he didn’t like it. As a matter of fact, you could completely replace the entire 6a season with one show containing pertinent facts rather than make us suffer through an obvious lack of direction or interest as to where the show was heading. So, he got his petty revenge on his show by using “high-art,” Sartre, or whatever you wish to call it, as an excuse for a lack of brilliance, intelligence, creativity, effort, and integrity. Unfortunately, it didn’t work and we had to pay for it.

Gee, David, thanks for bettering us with your veiled sensibilities. But here’s one last thought: If Anthony Soprano owned this show and he saw this ending, what do you think he’d do to you?

He was killed….

In fact, the ending was genius if you’ve paid attention to the show or are just a fan of well developed, well thought out plots that all tie together and have the memory of a champ to remember it all. The ending was simple, he got killed, but let me tell you why and explain in detail…

There were 3 people in the room total who had a reason to kill Tony…..

The two black guys, they were paid before to kill Tony but he was only shot in the ear, this was in one of the earlier seasons.

Also in the earlier seasons, the guy who was sitting at the bar stool is Nikki Leotardo, Phil Leotardo’s nephew; he was in one of the early season episodes where Phil and Tony have a sit down.

Here’s where the genius comes in….

When Tony is walking in the diner, you see the camera focus on him, then it switches to his perspective, and you see him looking at the booth he’s going sit at.

Then the camera switches back to Tony’s face, then it once again switches to his perspective, and it shows him looking at the door and looking at the people that come in.

Everytime the door opens the chimes sound…….Carmela walks in—chimesAJ walks in—chimes

When Meadow is parallel parking, still trying to get inside the restaurant, the camera switches back to the guy at the counter who goes in the bathroom……

Then it goes to a scene where Meadow finally parks and starts running into the diner.

The doors are about to open, Tony looks up….

No Music…………

Everything just goes black……………

In one of the early episodes of the Sopranos, Tony is talking with Bobby about what it must feel like to die. Bobby says “at the end, you probably don’t hear anything, everything just goes black.”

Part of that was revisited in the second to last episode during the last seconds of it, when Tony is about to go to sleep and he flashes back to the memory of him and Bobby on the boat… “You probably don’t hear anything everything just goes black”

So in the end, the Journey song was playing, the chimes on the door sounded but when Meadow came in, the guy in the bathroom came out and killed Tony. It’s the reason you can’t hear, or see shit when he died…. it was from his perspective…. and everything went black, then the credits rolled.

Danm it, I re-read that Soprano spoil blog, and look the guy might be some kind of soprano stalker nut, but lets be honest that seems like the only logical explanation…

I feel bad that tony is wacked in front of his wife and kids though… And it never said anything about there not being any sound…

In retrospect, the shit was cool, now at least when I watch that with my kids, I can give a killer explanation about the ending, and they will think I am smart as fuck, when really I am only about 3/4 as smart as that!

I think its a cop-out to make the viewers make up their own ending. Its as if Chase just didn’t do his job as a writer. He didn’t address the age-old question – does a gangster just get away with being a gangster or does he get what’s coming to him? Other mobster shows have also fell short of answering this question – like Godfather III (which is why no one likes that movie). So, it was disappointing. Its the job a writer to actually write an ending if you are writing a story. Any good story telling knows that. Otherwise, don’t bother writing at all.

Wow. Kudos to everyone who picked up on all those characters in the diner who had reason to kill Tony. I’ve seen every damn episode and I’d never have gotten that. I mean sure, they looked suspicious, but I thought that was Tony just being paranoid.

Let’s assume that Tony was killed–Lord knows he had it coming, and I can live with that. What upsets me is, if that’s the case, then what happened to Carmella, Meadow, and AJ in the diner? Killed in the crossfire? Escaped? Went into witness protection? Was the family initially saddened by his death, then perhaps somehow at peace with the fact that the man at the center of their lives, who they loathed almost as much as they adored, is finally gone? Who takes over the mafia family? Paulie? Maybe AJ?

The fact that we’re forced to imagine these scenarios doesn’t make the ending brilliant or amazing, it only makes it incomplete. And exceptionally frustrating.

The reason why so many people are upset is simply this: every great story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. And the story of our beloved Tony Soprano will never, ever have an end.

Imagine watching the first 90 minutes of Star Wars, and just as Luke Skywalker fires his torpedoes to destroy the Death Star, the screen goes blank and the credits roll. Wouldn’t you feel cheated?

Or Jaws, when Roy Scheider aims his shotgun at the shark, squezes the trigger and…………cut to black! Holy crap! The story has no end!

The comments I’ve read disdaining our need to have a story’s resolution spoon-fed to us are absolutely right: we DO crave a resolution to the stories we’re told. What they fail to realize is that that’s only natural: a well-told story MUST HAVE a definitive, satisfying ending. We all know the Sopranos creators could have easily provided one that was thoughtful, riveting, creative and memorable. The fact that they did not is what’s so damned disappointing.

R.I.P Sopranos!

To me an ‘open ending’ is both a fraud (you let others to do the job you are paid for) and a sign of cowardice (you don’t take the risk of making a serious mistake). I’m afraid letting the screen go blank is just bad writing.

The ending was actually very clear after you think about it. As Tony and his family are waiting for meadow to arrive there is a suspicious character who walks into the bathroom. As meadow walks in the screen goes blank…. i thought i lost reception and was going crazy. The fact is that a couple episodes ago do you remember when Tony and Bobby were talking in the boat at the mountains. They are on the subject of people getting “wacked” and Bobby asks Tony “What do you think it’s like, you know when you get “wacked.” Tony just replies “I think everything just goes black.” This is the reason why our screens went black for the time it did, Tony got wacked by the suspicious guy walking in the bathroom or the group of African Americans. Remember Meadow said she wanted to go into law to defend African Americans becuase they get mistreated when it comes to the judicial system. How Ironic would it be if he was killed by the group of African Americans. Or it was simply the supsicious character who may have been tied with Phil. Lastly, Tony’s father was killed the same way. He talked about it when he was a kid his dad was killed at a restaurant as well with his family all there. This are just theory’s but it seems pretty accurate to me.

A very well-crafted episode. Tony met with Junior,Janice,Sill, Paulie, the FBI etc making amends with everyone, even protecting the cat (Adriana). He was trying to tye up loose ends before the inevitable. The years of counseling paid off: he was not a sociopath after all. Yes, he gets whacked in the end. Meadow arrives a little too late to help. It’s all very sad but inevitable and brilliantly written. There won’t be a movie.

No one said anything about the songs he looked at and flipped past.
They were messages.
What were the titles?

Listen to the words of the music.
Dont stop believing,another message.

They all were finally getting their shit together Sopranospoil makes the most sense.
The fade to black is definitly a representation that someone got killed.And It was tony.But did it really happen or was it maybe sills dream?Or tonys?
Who knows?
Just like His father,History repeats itself ,but could have been a dream.

Aj was gonna get out and do the right thing,but he got talked into leading a life like his dad so he got it too.Or could have.Like the guilt ridden mother who squirreled blood money into accts and all that.
Meadow was gonna do the right thing,so she wasnt in the dinner in that”type of life”circle.For the drama.

It was a representation of how tony thought it would happen.The black guys,the truck driver the other guy. That was his conscience or fears .

This freak really should have commented or spoon fed it to us about what it all really meant man,This is bullshit.
Maybe it was made so we would order it 15 times and try to figure it out?
Or would buy the whole dvd collection to try to figure it out?
Its all buisness people.It all boils down to dollars.
He wont comment on what he really meant about the ending,so when he makes a movie,its open to whatever idea he comes up with.

Basicly………HE LEFT THE ENDING up to the viewer.
You got to have it whatever way you want it.

Do you want them to live? You can draw a conclusion that leads to that.
Do you want them to die? You can draw a conclusion that leads to that also

It was a shitty ending.But if you watch it about 50 times.And watch the whole collection another 40,maybe the picture would be as clear to you/me,as it is to sopranospoil? No thanks.

2 Things can happen
The writer will blow up in the industry and become so well known he wont be able to piss in private.
Or
He will be criticized for being a self serving idiot and everyones gonna hate him and no one is gonna want to touch anything he writes.

If the heat gets too hot,I bet he has an out…
Maybe we will get lucky and one of the cast or someone will pop on here as a secret and tell us thereal deal.

What a pale of trash.

Jeff, I agree with you – in fact, I think the ending was a masterpiece of real-life ambiguity. We’re all closure-junkies – we crave 100% clear-cur endings. But, every once in a while, an ending comes along that cuts things short before we see any resolution – like The Lady, or the Tiger – and those can be the most satisfying of all, in the long run. http://paullevinson.blogspot.com/2007/06/sopranos-end-and-closure-junkies.html

If I remember correctly , there was a episode where one of Tony’s guys was shot and ran out of the building. When Tony was talking to him about this shooting, he said he remembered the shots and running, but then everything went black. Could this be the end for Tony and his family?

oh my god.

are americans finally reading sartre’s existentialism ? “i’ll make references to sartre or some other insipid european, i’m all surface and mainly about appearances periphery imagery, after all.”

i do approve of Reading, however. i encourage that in your ilk. you know who you are.

yous guys hav a bad reputation, didjas know?

read more often, perhaps?

TwilightsLastGleaming.com has explained the episode..

I thought the end was magnificent. It interrupted the fiction of the mob story we were passively invested in and left us in our living rooms looking at TV snow and ourselves, demanding that we start asking questions. Very Brechtian, as a matter of alienation effect (with a nod to Rod Serling), and also theraputic.

The show was always about two kinds of narrative practice: psychotherapy and film-making–carriers of the exemplary fictions we use to come to terms with reality. More specifically the show was about genre: the mob drama, the family drama, the epic.

Tony Soprano is himself a great questioner. The thing about Tony is that he is someone who cannot merely gaze passively at what passes before him. Instead he interrogates, analyzes, makes choices, and acts. This is what I think gives him the aura of an heroic figure as a protagonist. But his vision comes at a cost – thus the therapy.

It is interesting as the story progresses that you see AJ starting down the same path, as he begins to question – as he does at Bobby B.’s wake – our culture and the violence and preditory behavior it is predicated on. And of course he becomes a candidate for therapy himself. But it is not his father’s business that is bothering AJ. It is just business. Corporations and governments behave no differently than mobsters, and we are all implicated in the brutality and absurdity they promulgate.

It is therefore ironic that (reading the mob drama as a “morality” play) we condemn Tony for the world of crime he fosters and inhabits; but AJ seems to us naïve and ham-fisted at his bridling at Iraq, Afghanistan, his gas guzzling automobile, etc.

But Tony Soprano is not a negative exemplum. On the one hand he is a kind of everyman – an intensified version of everybody’s beleaguered father just trying to get through the week without any more tribulation than necessary. On the other hand, he doesn’t accept the narrative he has been given at face value. He spills over. He is more than a father and businessman. He is more than a mobster. He reaches out beyond himself. The underworld serves for him, in epic terms, as the Underworld. The last trip to Vegas was about just this: the journey into the unknown, into sexuality, into himself, into the mysteries of Fortune, into the other – perfectly captured by the peyote sunrise. The mobster as flower child, as the man of discovery.

So in the end Malfi is wrong. Tony is not a psychopath—a convenient misreading of people and narrative. And although she does betray her own ethical code (would a heart surgeon have dropped Tony because of his line of work? –Tony is correct when he tells her she is behaving immorally), Tony does come away from his encounters with her a better human being. No more panic attacks. His handling of the situation with Phil is exemplary – the least violence possible – everything seemingly (although one never knows for sure) back on track (nice touch in his negotiations with Paulie). If we could all be so frank about ourselves and our world, maybe we could at least do away with the senseless violence.

Now for some possible conclusions….. for movie etc…

Tony is looking at daughter coming to table, dude from barstool
is really out to kill tony but daughter gets killed in the
process as she see this and saves tonys life. Perhaps his son
gets killed by a stray shot after daughter gets hit and tony reacts
and kills barstool dude. Rest of movie is revenge from tony.

The two coloreds try to rob restaurant and take tonys
daughter as a hostage, dude from barstool try to kill tony
but is foiled by robbery. Tony kills barstool dude or the coloreds
kill barstool dude as barstool dude pulls out gun. Either
way some innocents killed in restaurant, perhaps daughter, son
or wife. Tonys out for revenge.

Tony does get wacked in restaurant, rest of movie is spent
on son or daughter getting revenge.

Tony doesnt get wacked, barstool dude or coloreds are no
threat. Rest of movie is anyones guess.

So whats your take on the ending for the restaurant
scene???

THE LAST SCENE WHERE IT SHOWS TONY LOOKING AT THE DOOR AS MEADOW WALKS IN, IS IN FACT THE SAME SCENE (FROM A DIFFERN’T ANGLE) AS WHEN THE TRUCKER WALKS IN AT 54:40. IN THE FINAL SCENE HE IS CHEWING HIS ONION RING AT 58:35 AS THEY SHOW THE CLOSE UP ONE SECOND LATER HE IS NOT CHEWING AND HE IS REACHING INTO HIS POCKET( THE SAME AS WHEN THE TRUCKER WALKS IN AT 54:40 HE IS REACNING FOR CHANGE ) THEY HAVE USED THE SAME SHOT TWICE BUT FROM DIFFERN’T ANGLES, THIS TELLS YOU THERE WAS NO MORE FOOTAGE, NO ALTERNATE ENDING, TONY LIVES. THATS IT, SIMPLE,